DRIVING THE DAY – ROMNEY DELIVERS ECONOMY SPEECH AT FORD FIELD: At 12:15 local, Mitt Romney will deliver what’s being billed as a major tax policy speech to the Detroit Economic Club.

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INCREMENTALISTS – ROMNEY RELYING ON BUSH ECONOMIC ADVISERS: “Romney is tapping experts in the moderate camp of GOP economics to help him craft a meatier campaign message,” The Wall Street Journal’s Sara Murray writes this morning. “No 9-9-9 plans from this crowd. No flat tax or dramatic restructuring of Medicare or Social Security. Mr. Romney and his team, a circle with extensive academic and Washington experience, have steered clear of the bolder options offered by his rivals for the Republican nomination. Instead, they have opted for incremental changes to the tax code and entitlement programs.” http://on.wsj.com/y2vRLQ

PAUL KRUGMAN CALLS ROMNEY “A CLOSET KEYNESIAN.” In his column today, the liberal Princeton economist accuses him of being insincere about his true economic beliefs to win the nomination, asserting that he’s smart enough to know what he says on the stump is bunk and that he tipped his hat earlier this week when he said off-handedly that government cannot fix the ailing economy by cutting spending alone: http://nyti.ms/yUlhvl.

OPTICS – NOT THE HEADLINE BOSTON WANTED: The curtain-raiser in today’s Detroit Free Press, which is the top-ranked political story on their home page (second only to a weather story), is headlined “Romney camp’s game plan: MAKE FORD FIELD LOOK CROWDED” The lead: “It won't be hard to fit 1,200 members of the Detroit Economic Club into 65,000-seat Ford Field for today's speech by GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. What will be hard is making it look like Romney isn't speaking to a nearly empty stadium. The Romney campaign and the Economic Club think they've solved the problem. The guests will be seated at one end of the playing surface, roughly between the end zone and the 30-yard line, while Romney will speak from a stage in front of them…50 or so TV cameras will set up behind the guests…They scrapped three earlier plans…” An info-graphic accompanies the story: http://on.freep.com/wU671V.

NEW MOVEON AD HITS ROMNEY – “HE’D LET AMERICA FAIL”: MoveOn.org is putting an undisclosed sum behind a 30-second ad to run on Michigan cable through next Tuesday that attacks Romney for opposing the auto bailout. It features a Chrysler factory worker and MoveOn member named Elisa Gurulé. Looking into the camera, she says: “We need a President who’ll stand by us all when times are tough. Mitt Romney? He’d let America fail.” Watch: http://bit.ly/AyCFI4.

CABLE CATNIP – UAW WILL AGGRESSIVELY BRACKET ROMNEY SPEECH: “UAW and supporters will rally outside Ford Field in advance of Romney’s speech to the Detroit Economic Club, where he is expected to double-down on the same failed policies of the past that would let Wall Street write its own rules again, would favor the wealthy over the middle class and would have ‘Let Detroit go Bankrupt,’” an ally supporting the UAW-led event emails Score. “Atop the gem theater parking garage in Downtown Detroit at the intersections of Brush and Beacon Streets at 9:30am, UAW President Bob King, UAW Region 1A Director Gerald Kariem and other allies and elected officials will join a demonstration of supporters and Detroit’s progressive talk radio host Tony Trupiano in reminding Mitt Romney that Michiganders won’t forget how in their time of need he turned his back on the American Auto Industry and turned his back on them. Twenty-six American made cars will sit front and center spelling out Romney’s dooming words, ‘Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.’ Weather permitting local helicopters will shoot the iconic visual from above the skyline of Detroit featuring Ford Field where Romney will speak just hours later. In addition to the impressive aerial shots there will be compelling visuals and stories of jobs saved by the very rescue efforts Romney opposed on site atop the garage. The demonstration of supporters will eventually take their message to the front of Ford Field for Romney to hear.”

OBAMA AD AIRING ON MICHIGAN TV: “When a million jobs were on the line, every Republican candidate turned their back,” a narrator says in the 30-second spot. The highlight is a clip of the president saying, “Don’t bet against the American auto industry.” Watch: http://bit.ly/AndutA.

RATTNER’S OP-ED – ROMNEY AUTO APPROACH WAS “UTTER FANTASY”: Steven Rattner, the longtime Wall Street executive who served as Obama’s car tsar in 2009, takes to the New York Times’ op-ed page on the morning of Romney’s big economic speech to denounce him for saying his managed bankruptcy approach would work. “That sounds like a wonderfully sensible approach — except that it’s utter fantasy. In late 2008 and early 2009, when G.M. and Chrysler had exhausted their liquidity, every scrap of private capital had fled to the sidelines,” Rattner says. “If Mr. Romney disagrees, he should come forward with specific names of willing investors in place of empty rhetoric. I predict that he won’t be able to, because there aren’t any.” http://nyti.ms/yOn6ux

TWO NATIONAL POLLS OUT YESTERDAY ON THE BAILOUT –

PEW RESEARCH CENTER: “56% say the loans the government made to GM and Chrysler were mostly good for the economy, while 38% say the loans to the automakers were mostly bad for the economy.” That’s the reverse of October 2009. The Pew study also looks at attitudes on regulation: http://bit.ly/ABG5Xp.

GALLUP: “Americans are more likely to disapprove than approve of the federal government's bailout of U.S. automakers that were in danger of failing three years ago, by 51% to 44%. While 63% of Democrats approve, 73% of Republicans disapprove. Independents are more evenly split, with 45% approving and 50% disapproving.” http://bit.ly/zHHGxQ

NATE SILVER’s MICHIGAN FORECAST: Santorum has a 56 percent chance of winning next Tuesday, the 538 blogger wrote last night. He projects 38.4 for Santorum and 36.8 for Romney. There’s tons of caveats: http://nyti.ms/w0RzO1.

DELEGATE ALLOCATION – HOW SANTORUM COULD WIN BY LOSING: “Romney outruns Santorum in the Detroit area, but the situation is reversed in much of the rest of the state, in some surveys,” the AP’s David Espo writes. “That creates the possibility of something of a split decision next Tuesday in which Romney wins the popular vote but Santorum emerges with more delegates. Most of them are awarded, two at a time, to the winner of each of the state's 14 congressional districts.” http://bit.ly/xr2GAH

WHAT ELSE THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES ARE UP TO: After the auto speech, Romney is also having a 7 p.m. rally at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Santorum, who focused on fundraising yesterday and much of today, attends a Lenten Fish Fry in Walled Lake, Mich., at 6:30 p.m. and an 8 p.m. rally in Lincoln Park. Gingrich visits the Washington state capitol in Olympia. Then he rallies in Federal Way and Everett. The Free Press on the Michigan campaign swings http://on.freep.com/xwiTnz. The calendar with details about the events: http://politi.co/nKs8EW.

THE NARRATIVE – SUPER TUESDAY IS TOUGH FOR MITT NO MATTER WHAT: “How much would a pair of victories [in Arizona and Michigan] be worth? Republican strategists say that while they would restore Romney to the status of front-runner in the GOP race, victories in Michigan and Arizona could still leave the party looking at a long nomination battle. Nor, they say, would two wins Tuesday be enough to resolve many of the doubts that still surround Romney,” Dan Balz writes in his column for today’s Washington Post from Detroit. “Even if he were to win Michigan and Arizona, Romney faces a difficult landscape on Super Tuesday. A victory in Michigan would boost his prospects in Ohio, but Santorum, from neighboring Pennsylvania, is a serious threat there. Newt Gingrich is focused on Georgia, the state he represented in Congress. Tennessee and Oklahoma are more than problematic for Romney, given their conservative electorates.”

MORE –THE MARGIN IN MICHIGAN MATTERS: “Tuesday will present Romney with an opportunity to turn things back in his direction, although as Republican pollster Whit Ayres noted, margins could be important. ‘If it’s a squeaker, then the questions and doubts continue,’ he said. ‘But if he wins Michigan by double digits, especially if combined with a double-digit Arizona win, then all the chatter will die down just like it did after Florida.’” http://wapo.st/x3VWcd

DEBATE FALLOUT –

SPECTER DISPUTES SANTORUM’S ACCOUNT OF ENDORSEMENT DEAL: “Arlen Specter disputed on Thursday Rick Santorum's account of a conversation which Santorum said the two Senate colleagues had ahead of Specter's 2004 campaign for reelection,” per CNN. “I made no promise about supporting anybody. I wouldn't do it. It would be wrong to make a promise in advance of knowing who the nominee was and what the qualifications were." Specter continued, "There was never any discussion at all between Senator Santorum and me about support. It was just assumed that he would support me like I had supported him when he had a very tough election back in 1994." http://bit.ly/zX3ep9

TOOMEY SAYS ROMNEY WAS RIGHT, SANTORUM MISTAKEN: “For me, the Specter race of 2004 is really ancient history,” says Sen. Pat Toomey (R.-Pa.) in an interview with National Review’s Robert Costa. “I do think it was a significant moment for the conservative movement, certainly in Pennsylvania, maybe beyond. I think Santorum made a mistake; he was on the wrong side. But I got over that a long time ago. I actually campaigned for Rick Santorum in 2006…Having said that, Governor Romney was correct, pointing out one of the consequences of Senator Santorum’s decision.” http://bit.ly/yd7t97

LIMBAUGH “CRINGED” AT SANTORUM’S “TEAM” COMMENT: “Santorum is getting creamed. I cringed when I heard him say this. Santorum is getting creamed for the team player comment,” Rush said on his radio show Thursday. “I heard it, I looked at [my wife] Kathryn, and I said, ‘There’s going to be hell to pay for that one,’ because I knew that Santorum opponents, both from the left and right, were going to harp on it.” MJ Lee on Rush’s comments: http://politi.co/xMQZVU. The LA Times on Santorum’s record as an insider in the Senate: http://lat.ms/wFHzoV.

BAD RATINGS: Only 4.7 million watched Wednesday night. For context, 5.3 million tuned in to CNN’s Jan. 26 debate. http://politi.co/yxtkui

HOT GOOGLE SEARCHES: The top political search term during Wednesday night’s debate was EARMARKS, followed by Bridge to Nowhere, Title X and Romneycare. Top candidate searches in Arizona (Gingrich #1): http://bit.ly/y9bPxq. Top candidate searches nationally (Santorum #1): http://bit.ly/zRarZj. National candidate search trends (Gingrich actually saw the biggest increase): http://bit.ly/AmEPu8.

SANTORUM –

HE’S DOING BETTER WITH WOMEN: “A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows not only that Santorum is doing better among GOP women than he was a few weeks ago, but also that he is less unpopular — and also less well known — among Democratic and independent women than his Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich,” The Post’s Amy Gardner writes. “The Post-ABC poll, conducted on the heels of a week of scrutiny of Santorum’s conservative views on a variety of women’s health issues, shows that his popularity among GOP women has moved up 13 points since January, with the biggest bump in the past week, so that 57 percent hold a favorable view. Santorum is now within reach of Romney on that score: Sixty-one percent of Republican women view Romney favorably. Romney has higher negative ratings among GOP women than Santorum does — 28 percent to 18 percent — and those negative ratings of Romney have grown over time.” http://wapo.st/wghaWK

HIS WIFE SAYS SANTORUM’S RUN IS “GOD’S WILL”: “I did always feel in my heart that God had big plans for Rick. Eventually it was there, tugging at my heart,” Karen Santorum told Glenn Beck in a rare interview yesterday. “When Obamacare passed, that was it. That put the fire in my belly.” http://wapo.st/ApzxH6

THE SANTORUM PARADOX – DEMS DON’T TAKE HIM SERIOUSLY: Glenn Thrush and Carrie Budoff Brown write about “a genuine sense of befuddlement within Democratic circles over how to deal with the once-unthinkable possibility that Santorum … could actually be their opponent in November. That’s the Santorum Paradox, Democrats say: He’s too dangerous to ignore — yet impossible to take seriously.” James Carville said he thinks Santorum can win six states: Utah. Idaho. A Dakota. South Carolina. Mississippi. Alabama. He said he’s not sure about Texas. Ed Rendell predicted that Obama would win reelection with more than 350 electoral votes if he’s the nominee. http://bit.ly/xnKbkU

RICKSARMY.COM – TWO BROTHERS LAUNCH MICROSITE FOR SANTORUM: Brett and Alex Harris, 23-year-old twins who launched Huck’s Army in 2008, are up with a web site that they hope can fill some of the organization gap that they see in Santorum’s campaign and provide some kind of online platform for Santorum’s supporters to connect through local meet-up groups. They say they’re not raising money or getting paid. The site: http://bit.ly/yGMGTP.

ROMNEY –

RESTORE OUR FUTURE’S NEW AD HIGHLIGHTS HELP FOR PARTNER: The pro-Romney Restore Our Future Super PAC released a positive bio spot yesterday that highlights Romney's efforts to find his former business partner's 14-year-old daughter after she went missing in New York City. It uses footage from an old Romney campaign ad, but the super PAC says this is legal. The ad’s running in Arizona and Michigan. Watch: http://bit.ly/xdI5lT.

KEY NEVADA ENDORSER SAYS ROMNEY IS WRONG ON FORECLOSURES: “GOP Rep. Joe Heck, an early endorser of Mitt Romney for president, said this week that the presidential hopeful is wrong on the housing market in Nevada, a sharp break from the man he has embraced and a shift from where the congressman was last year,” per the Las Vegas Sun’s Jon Ralston. “The comments, made during a town hall meeting Tuesday, show the growing toxicity of Romney's comments in Nevada -- and probably elsewhere, too.” [Last October, Romney told the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board that the foreclosure process needs to ‘run its course and hit bottom.’] This could be a problem in the general: http://bit.ly/wUYgBh.

DREAMS OF HIS MOTHER – LENORE WAS ALSO A BIG INFLUENCE ON MITT: Sheryl Gay Stolberg gets on A1 with the latest iteration of the New York Times’ Long Read series, studying the relationship between Romney and his mother. “In style, temperament and outlook, Mitt Romney is very much his mother’s son,” she says. The lead anecdote is Romney coming around to support his mom’s failed 1970 Senate bid after initially laughing it off. http://nyti.ms/ybuy0y

COMBATIVE NEWT IS BACK – GINGRICH GOES BACK TO SAVAGING ROMNEY: Once again abandoning his vow to run a positive campaign, Ginger Gibson reports from an Idaho rally last night the former House speaker re-launched a wide-ranging attack on the frontrunner. “Gov. Romney at times is severely distant from the facts. To use his phrase, he’s not a severe conservative but he is at times severely distant,” Gingrich said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “Replacing a liberal amateur with a moderate amateur won’t get you very far.” He also criticized Obama for apologizing for the burning of Qurans yesterday: http://bo.st/wb3m1K. Ginger: http://politi.co/zNtmU4.

WHAT THE PRESIDENT IS UP TO: “Later in the morning, the President will attend the Democratic Governors’ Association Meeting. This meeting in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building is closed press. In the afternoon, the President will hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark in the Oval Office.”

GREENBERG & CARVILLE – OBAMA MUST STOP SAYING “AMERICA IS BACK”: Democracy Corps released data yesterday based on a Feb. 11-14 national poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and dial group testing on the State of the Union. “During the speech, the President’s assertion that ‘America is back’ produced an overall flat response across the dials with independents and Republicans responding negatively,” Stanley Greenberg, James Carville and Erica Seifert write in a seven-page memo. “Claiming that ‘America is back’ is by far the weakest operative message and produces disastrous results. It is weaker than even the weakest Republican message and is 10 points weaker in intensity than either Republican message. Overall, less than a third of all voters said this message makes them more likely to support the President and a third said this message made them less likely to support Barack Obama. Alarmingly, this message barely receives majority support among self-identified Democrats—and even less support among all other groups. Less than a quarter of independents say this message would make them more likely to support the President and no independents said that it would make them much more likely to support him. The two progress narratives—progress on jobs and ‘America is back’ create an opening for a Republican candidate to challenge the White House on its management of the recovery and whether America is back. This is a difficult place to wage the election when two-thirds say America is in decline.” The numbers show that Obama’s middle-class-focused messaging is resonating best with the voters he needs. Frequency questionnaire: http://bit.ly/wWLAIc. Graphs: http://bit.ly/zOUsKQ. Stan and James’ messaging memo: http://bit.ly/AhxScm.

SNEAK PEEK – NRCC TO HIT DEMS ON OIL PRICES: The National Republican Congressional Committee is launching an energy press release series today called "Power Failure." The goal is to links rising gas prices with the Democrats’ “big government war on energy in general,” including subsidies for Solyndra, blocking the Keystone pipeline and empowering the EPA. This comes after the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee RE-launched its thegrandOILparty.com microsite yesterday afternoon (an action center lets activists submit online letter to their House member) : http://bit.ly/wNbTqc. Here’s the banner for the forthcoming NRCC releases: http://bit.ly/yuVCyr.

NEW YORK TIMES A1 – NRCC FINANCE CHAIR UNDER INVESTIGATION: “Federal inquiries surrounding [Florida Rep. Vern] Buchanan appear to be widening, as investigators examine allegations that his companies improperly reimbursed contributors to his campaigns and claimed improper tax deductions and that he failed to include all his varied financial interests in his Congressional disclosure reports,” Eric Lichtblau reports. “The [FEC] dropped its case against Mr. Buchanan himself over the reimbursements, despite testimony that he took part in the scheme. But agents for the F.B.I. and the Internal Revenue Service recently contacted former employees alleging financial improprieties by Mr. Buchanan, who owns a number of auto dealerships throughout Florida and elsewhere and is one of the richest members of Congress. A federal grand jury in Tampa is hearing evidence in the case as well, according to several people with knowledge of the inquiries. The House Ethics Committee, meanwhile, is examining his failure in Congressional filings to disclose numerous financial interests and management positions — 17 in all — in another car dealership, a Florida development company, his own family foundation and other organizations…The congressman’s lawyers predicted he would be exonerated and said the allegations against him were driven by disgruntled former employees and opponents.” Important to note that there’s no evidence he’s done anything wrong in his NRCC capacity: http://nyti.ms/zkTH04.

NEVADA SENATE – A CHICKEN WILL FOLLOW HELLER TODAY: The Nevada Democratic Party’s life-size chicken is going to stand outside the Palms Casino later this morning to bracket Dean Heller's meeting with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. They’re trying to get earned media to make the point that it’s now been 50 days since the appointed senator said he would meet with the Latin Chamber after snubbing them in the fall. Also, the Shelley Berkley Senate campaign will attack Heller as anti-small business based on a series of 2010 votes.

MASSACHUSETTS SENATE – CONTRACEPTION FIGHT ESCALATING: The Massachusetts Democratic Party will host a press conference call at 10:30 with a state senator, a state representative and a Brookline Selectman to attack Scott Brown for co-sponsoring the Blunt Amendment, which would allow a controversial moral conscience exemption for employers. Brown’s campaign released this radio report invoking Ted Kennedy as he touts his support for “religious freedom.” Listen: http://bit.ly/AvXb4g. Warren has an written a passionate op-ed on the subject in today’s Boston Globe: http://b.globe.com/yau05W.

MICHIGAN SENATE – HOEKSTRA KEEPS BIG LEAD IN GOP PRIMARY POLL: In a WXYZ/Detroit Free Press poll taken February 18 – 21, 48% of those surveyed said they would vote for former congressman Pete Hoekstra in the Republican primary to 5% for Clark Durant. The primary is not until August. It’s pretty remarkable that that he’s still under 50. He’s been badly hurt in the general election head-to-head against Debbie Stabenow after that controversial Super Bowl ad: http://on.freep.com/wuSOTt. Hoekstra ended a four-city tour with Herman Cain last night in Troy, per the Detroit News: http://bit.ly/xm44FY.

ARIZONA HOUSE – FEDS NOW LOOKING AT SHERIFF BABEU’S STAFF: “The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is investigating whether one or more employees of Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu engaged in prohibited political activity while on the job,” according to today’s Arizona Republic. “A sheriff's official said the focus appears to be on Chief Deputy Steve Henry, who has formed an exploratory committee to replace Babeu, a Republican who now is running for a seat in Arizona's conservative Congressional District 4. Henry, a Republican, was among a handful of supporters who spoke on behalf of Babeu on Saturday during a nearly hour-long news conference at Pinal County Sheriff's Office headquarters in Florence, when the sheriff defended himself against allegations that he threatened to have a former boyfriend deported.” http://bit.ly/xtymGW

OHIO HOUSE – KAPTUR COMPLAINS ABOUT KUCINICH’S ANTI-WAR AD: “In a radio commercial from Mr. Kucinich (D., Cleveland), an announcer says that ‘maybe in Toledo politics, facts don't matter,’” per the Toledo Blade. "Toledo's Marcy Kaptur voted to waste half a trillion on Bush's wars. Cleveland's Dennis Kucinich voted to bring our troops and their money home to rebuild our economy," the radio ad says. It says, "Toledo's Kaptur took hundreds of thousands from war contractors and voted for billions more than even the Republicans wanted for military spending." The radio spot ends with the announcer saying, "Vote for Dennis. He works for you, not for war profiteers." The radio spot is running in the Cleveland market only and is Mr. Kucinich's first radio or television advertisement in the race that ends with the election March 6.” Kucinich’s camp says it’s a response to an ad attacking him for voting against projects important to northern Ohio. http://bit.ly/xfXvnG

FIRST LOOK – LA MAYOR TO PUSH EDUCATION SPENDING, PROP 13 REFORM: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will endorse a statewide ballot initiative to increase school funding in an 11 a.m. PT speech in San Jose. “We need to go to the root of the problem and fix California’s busted budget and tax systems," Villaraigosa plans to say. “We need to reform Proposition 13 and move from a tax system full of loopholes and exemptions to a system that protects homeowners, supports job creation and gives Californians the ability to generate new revenue." He’s delivering his speech at the National Hispanic University after receiving an honorary doctoral degree. Read the full text of his planned speech: http://bit.ly/yrHFZl.

VEEPSTAKES – VIRGINIA SENATE PIGEONHOLES PERSONHOOD: “The state Senate on Thursday reined in perhaps the most sweeping proposed change to Virginia's abortion-related laws in years when it voted to derail a bill that would have conferred legal rights to fetuses,” per the Richmond Times Dispatch. “By a vote of 24-14, House Bill 1 — the so-called personhood bill…[was] carried over to the 2013 legislative session. The move was a stunning turnaround for women's rights advocates, who earlier in the day saw the committee advance the bill on an 8-7 party-line vote, sending shockwaves across Capitol Square. On similar votes, the panel also advanced an amended version of legislation that would require women seeking abortions to have ultrasounds, as well as legislation that would repeal a state requirement that female schoolchildren be vaccinated for protection against the human papillomavirus. Those measures now head to the full Senate for consideration.” http://bit.ly/y7BLix

2016 WATCH – O’MALLEY POISED TO SIGN GAY MARRIAGE INTO LAW: “Gov. Martin O'Malley's bill to legalize same-sex marriage quickly won approval in the Maryland Senate Thursday night. The measure now needs the governor's signature,” The Baltimore Sun reports. “Cheers erupted in the Senate chambers after the 25-22 vote was read out loud and the group of seven gay and lesbian lawmakers from the House of Delegates rushed to the middle of the floor to embrace supportive senators…The vote makes Maryland the eighth state to approve gay nuptials — and the fourth state legislature to do so in the past 12 months.” http://bsun.md/zFJOWm

LIGHTER CLICKS—

FELICIA HARRIS, a Republican running for Ron Paul’s open seat in Texas, is out with a new 35-second web ad that goes hard after President Obama. http://bit.ly/yhUBYP

AMERICAN BRIDGE 21ST CENTURY posted a two-minute highlight reel of John McCain attacking Romney as a flip-flopper during the 2008 campaign: http://bit.ly/ziU1m5.

CODA – QUOTE OF THE DAY: “These are serious times. Do you want a real conservative, or do you want a country club boy who is over here doing websites and hanging out and appearing in a cow costume?” – Chris Baker, a top strategist for Rep. David Schweikert, attacking Republican primary opponent (and fellow freshman) Ben Quayle. http://politi.co/Ak6MV3

Authors:

About The Author

James Hohmann is a reporter for POLITICO Pro.

He covered the 2012 presidential campaign from start to finish, authoring the daily Morning Score tipsheet for nearly two years as he reported from 23 states over the course of the primaries and general election. Through the fall, he traveled with Mitt Romney.

Hohmann spent 2010 chronicling the Republican Party’s drive to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He arrived from The Washington Post at the end of 2009. Previously he wrote for the Los Angeles Times Washington bureau, the Dallas Morning News and The San Jose Mercury News.

An honors graduate of Stanford University, Hohmann studied American political history. He served as editor-in-chief of The Stanford Daily and wrote an award-winning thesis about the 1976 Republican primaries and the political ascendancy of Ronald Reagan.